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Issue 6
January 2008
Code Yellow: Elevated Threat of English Errors
This picture was taken at the Oakland International Airport where travelers leave the passenger-restricted part of the terminal to enter the non-restricted main area to collect baggage and grab a ride:
This sign tells passengers they need to be rescreened after leaving a "sterile" area. A sterile area? This notice appears in an busy airport, not in an operating room or a germ-free laboratory. Clearly, it meant to say a "secure" area.
One ongoing theme of The Awkward Adverb is that improperly used language can undermine confidence in an organization. If this airport's security department allows basic vocabulary errors to slip through--errors on display for all of the public to view--one hopes that poor attention to detail is not allowing other problems to slip through behind the scenes.
About this E-mail
The Awkward Adverb, an e-mail newsletter sent out once a month, highlights English-language flaws that have appeared on a sign, in print, on the Web, or anywhere in the public sphere. It may address grammatical errors, careless usage, bothersome buzzwords, punctuation problems, misspellings, or confusing writing in general.
Subscribers are encouraged to submit their findings for future editions of The Awkward Adverb by responding to this e-mail. Archived past issues of the newsletter are located here.
Henry Alpert, editor of The Awkward Adverb, is a New Orleans-based copywriter and business writer who works with businesses, ad agencies, and graphic design firms on a wide array of writing projects. For more information about his services, visit action-copy.com.
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